Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Kane's Donuts: March Specials

As I've said before, "Donuts can be such a hedonistic pleasure, especially when they are made by small, independent shops who truly care about crafting a tasty donut. The large chains cannot compete in quality and taste with these small shops." These independent shops often charge more for a donut than you'll pay at one of the large chains, but they are well worth the extra cost, for their freshness, higher quality, better ingredients, and craftsmanship.

Located in Saugus, a short distance off Route 1, is a famous donut institution, Kane’s Donuts, which has been producing excellent donuts and baked goods for over 60 years. Check my prior post for more background information on Kane's. They have opened a shop in Boston and will be opening another location on Route 1 at Essex Landing. Every month, they offer several special new flavors and last week, as a media guest, I checked out their March specials, which included three donuts, a muffin, and a gluten-free treat. Mid-morning, the shop was quite busy and there was almost not a seat available.

The Chocolate Marshmallow Donut is a yeast-style donut filled with marshmallow, iced with Taza Chocolate frosting and finished with a dollop of marshmallow.

This is a view inside the donut, showing all the sweet marshmallow inside. With a light and fresh yeast donut, the combination of rich chocolate and creamy marshmallow was delicious. This is the type of donut which you could add a scoop of ice cream and make yourself a donut sundae. I also like the fact they use local Taza Chocolateand I'll note that Kane's often uses local ingredients for their donuts and baked goods.

The Pistachio Donut was also a yeast-style donut which was dipped in a glaze made from roasted, ground pistachios and Kane’s signature honey glaze, topped with a few pistachios. The donut itself was so light and fresh, the type of donut that makes you want to devour several at a time. The pistachio glaze was tasty, with a nice pistachio taste which didn't overwhelm and wasn't overly sweet. It might have been nice though to see a few more pistachios atop the donut.

The Reese’s Cup Donut is also a yeast-style donut, covered with milk chocolate Taza frosting, drizzled with locally-made Teddie Peanut Butter and topped with marshmallow cream and a piece of a Reese’s Cup. I'm not a peanut butter fan, but I shared it with a couple others who enjoyed it very much, liking the balance of flavors and noting the freshness of the donut itself. Again, the use of local ingredients is compelling.

Gluten-free desserts sometimes get a bad rap, being accused of being flavorless or tasting strange. However, Kane's would change the minds of the haters out there as their own gluten-free products tend to be delicious and you would never know they were gluten-free. This month, they created a Gluten-Free Glazed Whoopie Pie.

You can see the inside of the Whoopie pie, noting the sweet marshmallow inside, surrounded by rich and moist devil's food chocolate donut. The glaze made this even sweeter, and I think it would have worked well even without the glaze. If you have a gluten allergy, you'll love Kane's gluten-free treats, and even if you don't have such an allergy, you'd love these treats too.

March's cupcake of the month is a Reese’s Cup Cupcake, a chocolate cake, smeared with Teddie Peanut Butter frosting and topped with a Taza dark chocolate drizzle and finished off with Reese’s Cup pieces. Again, those who enjoyed the Peanut Butter donut also enjoyed this decadent cupcake as well.

If you haven't ever visited Kane's Donuts, or it has been awhile since you last visited, you need to make the trip there soon and sample their delicious donuts or maybe go for one of those massive coffee rolls. The March specials are available all month and once April arrives, they will have created a bunch of new specials for your culinary pleasure. Forgot those donut chains and support this independent shop, which often relies on local ingredients.

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